Cons
Overkill if you just want a 20GB music player. Low-contrast screen.

Bottom Line

The SoniqCast Aireo 2 is a truly unique player that refreshes its content via Wi-Fi and can transmit to any FM radio. The Aireo 2 is especially attractive to Audible.com fans, but has much to offer any digital-audio devotee.

How much technology can you cram into a container the size of a deck of cards? In the case of the SoniqCast Aireo 2, a lot. At its heart, it's a 20GB digital audio player with an FM tuner. But it also has an FM transmitter for wirelessly connecting to your car radio or home stereo, and Wi-Fi for a no-cables connection to your PC. Moreover, the player also use your network or any open Wi-Fi access point to connect directly to Audible.com for books, newspapers, and talk shows, or to SoniqCast.com for music. And SoniqCast constantly varies the mix on your player, using rules to select the amount of material from a playlist, the percentage of the player space to use, the player space to replace, and the actual media to use.

At 4.2 by 2.6 by 0.75 inches and 6 ounces, the Aireo 2 is about the same size and heft as comparable hard-drive players. Its blue-backlit screen, like that of the Dell DJ 20, would be more readable if the backlight were white. An unusual dome at the top conceals multicolor LEDs. Different colors convey information about the Aireo 2's status, but they flash in rainbow fashion when music is playingthe color organ of the late 1960s is back. Groovy, man.

The user interface is a four-way rocker with a large play/pause button in its center, but the navigation scheme blends icons with menu items, and throws in shortcut bars (up to eight options that you can select while your music or audio is playing). You can control EQ presets, shuffle mode, and FM-transmit frequency, and flip between playlists and bookmarks.

Although the Aireo 2 will not connect through secured or stealthed Wi-Fi connections, it has a hot-spot detector that finds open connections easily. Once connected, you can download material from Audible.com and from the SoniqCast music portal. We didn't find much incremental value in loading music via Wi-Fi; you have to be at your PC to select music anyway, and plugging in a USB cable to a player is hardly a hassle. But using Audible wirelessly is a delight. Not only can you download books and headline news stories, but if you're a talk-radio fan, you can get your favorite shows, such as those on NPR, and time-shift them into your commute, lunch, or workout time without a visit back to your PC.

All those other goodies stuffed into the Aireo 2 didn't hurt its audio performance one bit. The frequency response is essentially flat across the audio spectrum. Bass performance is better than most portable players, and harmonic distortion is commendably low. The Aireo 2 achieves some of its sonic performance by not pushing the audio output stage too hard. The output is a bit lower than that of typical players, and we were unable to push it into clipping or harmonic distortion, as we can with almost any other player.

The Aireo 2 drove its provided headphones (not earbuds) to a 95-dB in-ear level, which is plenty loud, especially considering that the signal was clean at that level and that there was no deterioration in bass performance as we cranked it up. When we attached a pair of standard Apple earbuds, we recorded a maximum in-ear loudness of 101 dB. And if you don't like the stock tone, there's the usual bunch of presets and a seven-band equalizer. The player has two headphone jacks, so you can share music with a friend.

The built-in FM transmitter covers the full FM spectrum, not just a few set frequencies. It works better than most aftermarket FM transmitters we've tried, but in the car, a cassette adapter still has better fidelity and is interference-proof: During testing, we encountered our first instance of picking up another driver's audio player transmissionand her taste in music was not at all compatible with ours.

The FM tuner is easy to set up. Strong-signal reception is solid and stable, and fringe reception is better than it is on most portable players, another nod to the engineering quality that went into the Aireo 2.

Granted, the Aireo 2 is overkill if all you want is a 20GB player. But if you'll take advantage of its extra features, it's a fine choice.

Bill Machrone is vice president of technology at Ziff Davis Publishing and editorial director of the Interactive Media and Development Group. He joined Ziff Davis in May 1983 as technical editor of PC Magazine, became...

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